This is already the fourth book in the Roma History and Culture Book Series and is particularly important to us. The Series’ overarching goal is to incorporate Roma history and culture studies into the mainstream of European and global academia. To achieve this goal, the Series publishes books from a wide range of disciplines that offer innovative, critical, and, above all, reliable insights into the history and culture of the Roma (formerly known as ‘Gypsies’), relying on critical rereading and rethinking of historical sources and existing research. This approach marks a turn in the academic studies of Roma history and culture. This research field had been blighted by myths, stereotypes, and misinterpretations all too often in the past, which created severe obstacles to the development of modern academic knowledge as a field in its own right.

In fulfilment of the main objective, the books published in the Roma History and Culture Series contribute to making the Roma voices heard and understanding the Roma views. We laid down such an approach already in the publications within the ERC project RomaInterbellum – Roma Voices in History: A Source Book. Roma Civic Emancipation in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe from the 19th Century until World War II (Marushiakova & Popov, 2021), Roma Writings: Romani Literature and Press in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe from the 19th Century until World War II (Roman et al., 2021), and Roma Portraits in History: Roma Civic Emancipation Elite in Central, South-Eastern and Eastern Europe from the 19th Century until World War II (Marushiakova & Popov, 2022) – and found its continuation and development in this Series. It is no coincidence that the first book in its framework was the publication of the hitherto unknown manuscript History of the Gypsies in Bulgaria and Europe: Roma by Shakir M. Pashov, the leading figure of the Roma civic emancipation movement in Bulgaria (Marushiakova et al., 2023).

With this publication, the Series aspires to search for and publish lost, unknown or little-known manuscripts of Romani authors, by no means exhausted. The present publication is the best proof of the continuation of this crucial strategic line in the development of the Series. It brings to the readers’ attention the authentic full text of the poem Ratwałe jaswa (Tears of Blood) by the Romani poetess Bronisława Wajs, called Papusza in the Romani language. With this name, she entered the history of Romani literature and remained widely known worldwide. At the centre of the poem is the tragedy of the Roma, who fell victims to or survived (as in the case of Papusza) the persecutions by the German occupiers and by the Ukrainian collaborators in Volhynia.

The poem Tears of Blood is also well known and has been published many times, including its translations into various languages. However, when comparing it with the manuscript of the poem, which became only recently available, it turns out that the original text is several times longer and quite different from the version known worldwide. To make the poem available in its entirety, it was necessary to transcribe the original, written in the Romani language, and translate the text into English directly from the original (and not from its poetic translation into Polish, as was the case before). Due to the specifics of the genre, it was necessary to work with the manuscript by a specialist with unique skills who has an excellent command of the specific dialect of the Romani language used by the author and, along with that, is well acquainted with the cultural and historical realities of the era.

Attracting additional specialists was necessary for a better presentation and understanding of the poem Tears of Blood. Therefore, the book, with the publication of the poem itself, also includes articles aimed at illuminating not only the biography of the author but also the historical context of the creation of the poem as well as its significance for the development of Romani literature. All this was necessary because although the importance of Papusza’s poetry is well known and repeatedly researched, several myths and legends, unverified facts, assumptions and more or less controversial interpretations are still widespread. Of course, it is naive to expect that with this book, all research problems related to Papusza’s biography and work will be solved, but at least from now on, new research will be placed on a solid basis – the authentic, original text of the author herself.

This issue – the need for a new, comprehensive critical reading of the original primary sources for Roma history, culture and literature – is fundamental to us. Here, we come to a striking curiosity, which reflects the contemporary state of Romani Studies and has no analogue (or at least none that we know of) in social sciences and humanities. It is that nowadays (unlike in the past), the knowledge and use of the Romani language are not considered necessary in Romani Studies. We cannot imagine that there can be a specialist in the field of, e.g., Arabic Studies, who does not speak Arabic, or in German Studies, who does not know the German language, etc. In Romani Studies, however, this is accepted as something completely normal, even among researchers of Romani literature (sic!). Against this background, we allow ourselves a pun: Why is it necessary to search for the authentic “Roma voices” in history if they cannot be heard and understood above all?

We especially want to emphasize the role of Jerzy Ficowski, who is often called the “discoverer” of Papusza, and she, in her correspondence with him, calls him sownakuno (golden) and pshaloro (little brother). From our experience, we know how difficult it is to discover, support and motivate a talented author, especially when they come from an environment that does not have a tradition of high appreciation of written literary work (as in the case of Papusza). It would not be an exaggeration to say that thanks to Ficowski Papusza became a renowned Romani poet, and this should not be forgotten. The question about the relationship between Roma authors and non-Roma authors and supporters continues to be relevant even today, and the case of Papusza clearly shows that the best form of this relationship is close cooperation between the two sides. We firmly adhere to this guiding principle, and we are sure that Bronisława Wajs-Papusza will be one of the many Romani authors to be published as part of the Roma History and Culture Series.

Elena Marushiakova, Vesselin Popov and Sofiya Zahova

(Series Editors)